Accessibility in Our New Client Area and Site Tools
Table of Contents
As you probably know, we have recently introduced our new, in-house built interfaces for hosting account and website management. One thing we are truly proud of in both Client Area and Site Tools design is the attention paid to web accessibility. We have invested seriously in implementing multiple features that make our service easier to use for everyone, including people with different levels of motor or visual disabilities.
High Contrast Themes in Both Interfaces
Our designers, with the help of accessibility testers and consultants, have created high-contrast themes optimized for visual accessibility. Viewing a high contrast content is generally easier to comprehend, read, and navigate through, and is proven to be beneficial for some eye conditions.
High-contrast settings are also great if you’re working outside and you need a little something to fight sun glare. We have added standard contrast light and dark themes so that any user can choose the best color combination for them.
You can also enable the Easy Read Font option, which is specifically designed to improve readability. This makes the font in your Client Area and Site Tools dashboard more visually appealing and easy to read.
To manage your theme and font settings, click your profile picture/initials in the upper-right corner > Appearance.
Keyboard Handling
Keyboard handling, or the functionality to navigate through a website just with your keyboard, is essential for people who need to use screen readers to navigate and read through web content, as well as users who are permanently or temporarily unable to use mouse and touchpads for a variety of reasons.
Besides an accessibility must-have, the keyboard handling implementation generally makes navigation through different tools and pages faster and more convenient for users, who spend a lot of time managing their site and tweaking multiple settings. You can try it yourself – start with the tab to move between elements and click on enter when you want to activate a switch or enter a menu.
Screen Reader Support
A considerable number of web users heavily rely on using a screen reader software for navigating the web due to permanent or temporary visual disability. Generally, just having a good code is enough to make your site readable for most screen readers.
However, a web application with a variety of custom tools, elements, and different settings such as the Client Area and Site Tools needs a bit more work done to make it accessible for screen reader users. We have dedicated a lot of time to research, develop and test each page in both interfaces to make sure that the content is readable in the most popular screen reader software programs such as JAWS, NVDA, and Voice Over.
Implementing screen reader support for the complex components needed for web hosting tools was uncharted territory for us. We have started the implementation following established accessibility standards and along the way, we have invited accessibility experts with different visual impairments to help us test and improve what we have done. Working closely with them and observing how our work enabled people to do things they weren’t able to do before made our efforts worthwhile.
What’s Next?
We consider the implementations described above essential for any web page. And while they certainly cover a lot of people’s needs for accessibility, we want to go even further and make the Client Area and Site Tools as accessible and easy to use as possible. To do that, in the next few weeks we’ll be releasing additional accessibility features such as an easy-read font.
Help Us Make Our Product Even More Accessible
We understand that due to the diversity of needs users may have and the variety of different software, browsers, and devices used, we may have missed something. Having said that, we’re constantly working on improving the accessibility of both interfaces and we’d love to hear your suggestions and feedback on what we’ve done so far.
If you’re using one of the accessibility features and notice behavior that may be improved, or you’re having trouble accessing specific content, drop us a line in the comments section below.
Comments ( 101 )
Thanks! Your comment will be held for moderation and will be shortly published, if it is related to this blog article. Comments for support inquiries or issues will not be published, if you have such please report it through
Chris C
I am trying to find out how I get our server memory and CPU usage as the old user area allowed us to do, also I can't see how you request help via chat or ticket.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
We have just released the Stats module, you can find it under Services -> Hosting -> Manage -> Stats Tab. As for your support central, you can find it clicking on the question mark icon in the top right section of the site.
Jason
Thank you Hristo, I was definitely missing this (stats) but I'm not impressed by the change in accessing support.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
There aren't any changes in the flow just better interfaces and faster working system. I guess some getting used to time is needed and a few bookmarks updated ;)
Glenda Eades
How on earth do I access my site that was transferred yesterday to siteground from bluehost? All of this is new and totally different than what I'm used to!
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Different companies have different interfaces. I know it can be a bit frustrated but after some initial time to get used to I believe you will find our interfaces super intuitive. This said, check your transfer ticket, there are instructions on what to do next after the site is migrated. Usually, at this point you have to point the domain to our servers but check with our techs :)
Chanel Carlascio
Nice job on attending to accessibility! I have a background in ADA accommodations so it is great to see a business being proactive in something that is normally placed on the back burner. If you need any assistance, let me know. I'd be happy to be a resource. One thing that I might mention, is if you have any videos on your site - please be sure to have them captioned. This is easily overlooked or something left till later. Thanks so much!
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Thanks for your kind words and the feedback regarding videos. We will surely do our best to caption everything we produce!
Lucy
How do you contact SiteGround if you are not a client. I paid for webhosting but have not received confirmation but the money/payment has gone to siteground from my bank account. I rang the bank to confirm and they gave me a confirmation number but how do I contact siteground. Three days not knowing what is happening?
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
There is a chat button that you can use to get in touch with our team.
Rob
where is the C - pannel now?
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Until replaced by Site Tools, you can find your accounts under the Websites tab.
Pooja
Can i please go back into my theme and add / change data? where is that link and i can't find it. Can i revert back to my old interface plz?
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
The update handles the SiteGround Client Area. Your WordPress backend is untouched, you can login via yourdomain.com/wp-admin and check your theme and add content :)
SD
We don't find anymore the link to open a new ticket... Please advise us.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
The Help Center can be accessed from any page by clicking on the question mark icon in the top right corner of your site.
Tom Eversman
I would like to see easier access to creating a support ticket when they click the "?" button on the top right section of the web page. I'm finding myself spending too much time hunting for the past few tickets I sent.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
There is an easy to get to Contact Us tab that you can simply bookmark.
Christine
And what would that easy way be? Because I can't find the Contact Us tab ANYWHERE right now when I'm logged in.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Click on the question mark icon in the top right part of each page -> View Help Center :)
Marie Eatman
Ok I have looked everywhere and read the tutorials and blog for getting to my Wordpress admin area, I do not have a Wordpress Kit button is my website area,
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
That's because you're not yet migrated to Site Tools. The last update we did handles only the new Client Area. Once your cPanel account is migrated to Site Tools, you will see the WordPress Kit shortcut listed properly.
Stacey
I am so lost with this new client area, I can not get to my wordpress dashboard, I am a big rookie and now I am lost. Help!
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
You can still access your WordPress dashboard by loading yourdomain.com/wp-admin. The Client Area update does not affect your WordPress Dashboard in any way.
Ron Granados
how can i use my domain name to forward to my website . .? Where do i put the Ip . . . Thank You
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
If your domain is registered through SiteGround, you can manage it from Services -> Domains.
Tim
What if it isn't?
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
You can then manage it in the control panel provided by the registrar you've purchased it from.
Trish
Since the change I cannot get into the backend of my website. Using Wordpress. It says it's there but the instructions re Wordpress Kit is not an option
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Our changes in the Client Area did not affect in any way your WordPress site or anything on the account itself. If you're on Site Tools, you can access it directly from the WordPress Install & Manage tab.
Caleb
I can't find the add on domain section to add a domain already registered.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
In Site Tools there is no Addon Domains, that's old cPanel concept - now you get a separate Site Tool instance for each website. So just click on the New Webiste button and use your newly registered domain.
Pete
New dashboard looks excellent and far less convoluted - one thing I noticed straight away is in cPanel, the "Disk Space" and "Inode Usage" bars in the left panel do not match up with how much is actually used. (E.g. we have a server on about 95% disk capacity, but the blue line is at about 70% of the bar). Only a small thing, but we monitor these quite closely on a regular basis and it's a bit misleading as it is!
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Thanks for the feedback!
jon
Can't access my admin panel for any site. Followed the instructions and the buttons they were telling me to click are not even there. Tried to contact support and again searched and followed siteground instructions on how to do this and again the buttons i was being told to click are not there. About the only thing i can access is cpanel.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
You can access your WordPress dashboard through domain.com/wp-admin. We will add a quick login link to the Client Area shortly!
Emma
help...i used to just log on to siteground and access and log in to all my wordpress sites very easy until now......now I cannot find how i access or log in to my wordpress sites via siteground. Very frustrating and wasting my time...why change something that was simple and accessible before.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
We will add a quick login link shortly! Meanwhile, you can access your WordPress dashboard through domain.com/wp-admin
Carol
we have the same problem as Emma, how long till shortcut shows up?
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
We're working on it and it will be available once it goes through our deploy process. I can't give you exact ETA but it should be available very soon.
Amanda Mae
I cannot find the link to open my existing free Sitebuilder tool from Weebly. It keeps defaulting to create a "new website" or to start a new site builder account. The help features only discuss how to access a new account. Please advise how to navigate via Siteground to the Weebly sitebuilder. Thanks.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
You can login to Weebly through Websites -> Added Extras. You can access it from there :)
Sanj
When I click on login on this part nothing happens? can you advise on what I should do next?
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Please, try again there was a temporary issue with our main site :)
Dean
When will Site Tools replace cPanel for user that have not yet been updated? Thanks, Dean
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
We will start the migration very soon. You will receive an email when your server is scheduled for migration.
Mark Hahn
I don't have the new tools yet, but all the tutorials seem to assume the new tools. In particular I need to enable CORS. I added the text to my .htaccess file, it didn't work, so I'm trying to turn off NGINX Direct Delivery. The tutorial says to go to "Site Tools -> Speed -> Caching" which doesn't exist. How can I do this in the old cpanel?
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
NGINX Direct Delivery is available only on Site Tools. You will get the service once your account is migrated. Meanwhile, the same functionality is handled by the Static Caching under the SuperCacher tool in your cPanel. As to CORS you can set the appropriate headers either through .htaccess or through your web application itself, the direct delivery is not a requirement for it.
Mark Hahn
The tutorial for CORS refers to turning off Direct Delivery since that defeats CORS. If you say that I don't have direct delivery then I'm screwed. I followed the tutorial exactly by adding a section to .htaccess. Is there any way to get general tech support, like email? The Contact Us section only allows specific non-technical support. I must say that if I cannot use any tutorial (they don't match cpanel) or staff support then I can't use siteground.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
No, you are not, you just need to add the .htaccess rules and you don't need to turn off anything.
Jarrett Ferris
Hi! my name is Jarrett and I am the COO at Paradogsicle Minds Media out of Olympia, and I just wanted to express my gratitude and excitement over all of the new changes that have been made to Siteground recently, especially those that have made it easier to interact with my clients and ship out completed sites more easily! Thank you for the added information about some of the new accessibility features as well, Siteground has really been making some awesome leaps forward lately and I am happy I made the switch over back when I did. Excited to see what you all have in store for us next!
Roger Matthews
Well, Something happened, and it is much faster now :). You may delete my previous comment.
Ali Alamri
I am very happy to hear that. I am blind using screen reader software, and I am happy with the accessibility experience that you provide, I have never had any problems, I am able to do everything without help. Thank you, we appreciate this.
Siddhesh Jain
It would have been really nice if old customers too would have got Site Tools by now, maybe you’ll could try and speed it up for us because I’m really excited to try them but the wait is just getting longer and longer.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Trust me when I tell you this but noone wants everyone to be on Site Tools already more than us :) However, it's a difficult server to server migration and it's better to take some time now than missing something later.
Corbb O'Connor
I’m glad to see you making forward strides on accessibility. Might be good for your screenshots in these articles to likewise be accessible. “ Screen Shot 2020 04 21 at 1.51.17 PM.png” is not descriptive.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Thanks for reporting this! We will be updating those too.
Patrick O'Neill
SiteGround Team - thanks for such a great service. When I have the monitor vertically aligned, I am not able to save in the text editor. Is there a hotkey to do so? The orange button with three dots at the bottom of the screen does not have an option to save, although I do remember seeing that option there in the past. Please advise.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Thanks for reporting this, we're looking into it and will fix it as soon as possible.
Patrick O'Neill
Thank you, Hristo!
Evan
The Home header graphic can be a bit of a surprise when using darkmode. Perhaps add a grayscale filter to it, or remove it entirely. https://i.gyazo.com/3028dfe3a6af3acd9403cd64be83a08a.png
Maureen
A quick, easy way to improve readability is to get rid of light grey fonts and especially light light grey fonts. For many of us, black -- true black -- fonts on white backgrounds are the best in terms of reducing strain and improving readability.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Please, check our high contrast light theme, it's pretty much what you're saying :)
D-Solution
The only thing im missing is a way to easily manage the domains when having a lot of domains. The filter options are now a bit useless if you ask me. I would rather see the following in the Overview area: Add Client name / reference to domain item and filter option Add Tag name to domain item and filter option Add Category to domain item and filter option Change the avatar / icon of each domain so i can easily (visually) see the companies website logo or favicon. Change from Grid view to List view Thanks in advance!
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Thanks for your feedback, we will consider it for future updates!
Scott Mitchell
Well done, thanks for the focus on this
Tom Blubaugh
I don't have any of the issues you are addressing but I am impressed by what you are providing. Great job.
Senthil Murugan C
Greetings from Fresa Technologies, recently we have purchased siteground service and it is very user friendly, getting the support on time. As a new customer, the interface is good and easy to use.
Dave
hi, this is such a good news! If siteground can help the site owner further, by providing a accessibility scanning software tool and in the future hook up site owner with a company that provides certification (with discount price, of course).
joey acosta
Accessibility: I just want to say kudos to siteground for attempting to make their hosting site more accessible to people with disabilities. I have a progressive disability that has weekend my muscles to the point that I can no longer use my arms or hands to type. Instead, I use a mouse click and Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition software. One problem that I have encountered, is when I use NaturallySpeaking to dictate text, the editor doesn't seem to recognize it as text and when I press a key on the keyboard the entire text disappears. I hate using the Columbus technique to type.
Monika Dimitrova Siteground Team
Thank you for your feedback, Joey! I've passed it on to our developers and we'll look into fixing the dictation issue you're experiencing.
lane
I'm trying to contact technical support. Good job on the update. Looks really sharp. Can't find the chat box, or a phone number to get help. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to avoid having to support people by hiding that information.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Actually it's more prominent than ever :) Click on the ? icon in the top right part of the screen and View Help Center. There you will see useful articles tutorials and on the Contact Us tab - all the ways you can get in touch with our support.
Patrick
It would be awesome if you could show all of the addon/parked sites under the Growbig servers too without having to go into Cpanel. Secondly, if hosting plans would sort alphabetically would be helpful. Thanks!
Dolores
This is amazing news! I'm totally blind and use VoiceOver, I'm launching a vegan blog and look forward to hosting it with siteground. This leap forward really shows that you care about your customers and our needs. I can't wait to try out all the accessibility features. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. I'll let you know if i find any issues.
Ramandeep Sethi
Thanks to the Great and Fastest Web-Hosting Provider: SiteGround. they has considered enabling Accessibility in their web-hosting. this will not only increase their user Experiance but, will also their rankings in the google.
Anna
You launched the new Site Tools in August 2019 - which was almost a year ago. My site still hasn't been migrated and reading other comments it looks like this process goes incredibly slowly. Are you having some technical issues with it? Not being able to get even a timeframe (I asked!) indicates that there are some issues with the migration. You sign up all new customers straight into the new Site Tools, and there are some sites that have already been migrated...Could you be open with us and honestly say why does it take so long and how do you prioritise the sites for migration? From your video and the initial information during the launch it sounded like the process would take few months not few years...
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
We had to pause the migration in order to proceed with moving our infrastructure over to GCP. We have now resumed the cPanel to Site Tools migration and right now with our Cloud accounts. There are many cases that we've stumbled upon and found a solution for and many that are popping up with each batch of servers that we migrate. I wouldn't say there's one big technical problem that's slowing everything, just multiple small things that we must address. It is a server to server migration so we've started with the servers with fewer sites on. We do a lot of manual checks too in order to make sure everything is working fine. No one wants to move everyone away from cPanel and on to Site Tools more than us but it just takes time. The process is speeding up with every week because we're updating and improving the migration scripts with every iteraction and I really hope you won't have to wait a lot more.
Betsy Modglin
I have searched and searched after logging in for a support number. Please provide this. I shouldn't have to hunt for this to get support.
Marina Yordanova Siteground Team
Hello, from your Client Area just hover over the “?” in the top right corner and select Help Center > Contact Us. Choose a category that best describes your question and after a brief explanation you will be able to proceed and contact our specialists. Please note that for more complex cases the phone is not the best channel to use. Our interactive system was designed so that your request would be analyzed right away and that you experience the least wait time while being connected to the proper support team.
Paul
Whenever I go to Site Tools and click on "File Manager" I always get to a page that says "You don't have access to this tool" even though I own the account. This is for all the websites in my account. What's happening??
Marina Yordanova Siteground Team
Hello Paul, as we see you already contacted our Support team, and they managed to provide more information. Once you contact your Internet service provider the cache issue should be resolved.
KVNHNF
Why did you remove "latest visitors stats" Can you please add "latest visitors" SSL and non-SSL from Cpanel which isn't available anymore with that new site tools? I really need this tool to block DDOS attempts or hackers and I am blind now without it. The latest visitors > non-ssl traffic is the ultimate way to find bad visitors. I usually have it open whenever my computer is on and I really need to get this feature. Or can you switch me back to the old regular Cpanel, i don't know? Thanks
Marina Yordanova Siteground Team
We have forwarded your request for more detailed visitor stats to our Product Managers. Still, you can rest assured that our Anti-bot AI is actively protecting all accounts from DDOS and hacker attempts as described here https://www.siteground.com/blog/new-anti-bot-ai/
Lex
Hi, I look around I didn't see "Site Tool" and still cPanel button. Also if go "https://tools.siteground.com" the page has no menus.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Your account hasn't been migrated from cPanel to Site Tools yet. You will receive an email once your server is scheduled for migration :)
Lex
Thank you for the info
Rick
While the new admin panel seems to be easy and for the most part nice to work with, there is one serious missing feature: Temporary URL or IP to load and test your site before pointing the DMS to the new site. While amateur site builders typically do not use this, most (all) professional folks need to upload and test the site before opening it to the public. Additionally you need to prove to your web owner that it works as designed. FYI most other web hosts do have this type of feature.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
There is such feature. When you start a new website you can use a temporary URL for it and then change it to the actual domain name. When you migrate with the SG Migrator plugin, we generate a custom temporary link that you can use to check whether the migration is successful.
Rick
FYI... None of the customer support agents even suggested this (multiple attempts to get an answer) Not sure what this does as my staging site is on a sub-domain in Siteground that I use to build and test the new site. I'll look at it to see if this works for me.
curry
Why do I not have site tools? I still have c panel
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
We are still in a process of migrating existing customers from cPanel to Site Tools. Once your server is scheduled for migration, you will receive an email with additional details.
Loyal SiteGround Customer
The Service Updates article announcing Site Tools -- released by Reneta Tsankova (SiteGround COO) on July 30, 2019 -- needs to be updated (or a new one issued) to provide current SiteGround customers and the general public with a Site Tools migration status report. It should include specific reasons why a high number of accounts have not yet been migrated to Site Tools. Thirteen (13) months have elapsed since releasing the article, and we still don't have Site Tools. Perhaps the only advantage of not yet having Site Tools is all the issues reported in the article's comments section will be fixed by the time our account is migrated. The update or new article will be helpful to many.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Thank you for your feedback. We’ll do our best to post an update on the matter!
Jorge
+1 Please updates for current cPanel/WHM users. Thanks
Rachelle
I too have been looking for the answer to the above question. When will the accounts that have yet to be updated be completed?
Marina Yordanova Siteground Team
We will send an update to everyone as soon as we have more information.
Chris
still no site tools for older customers?
Marina Yordanova Siteground Team
We hope to be able to update clients about the schedule in the coming days.
Brad
Your e-mail filter settings haven't been accessible with a screen reader for years. Drop down menus do not speak, making it impossible to choose options. Now, with your home-grown spam system I cant find quarantine to release mail caught in the spam filter. Drop down menus, combo boxes, and other elements are standard window elements which have been around since Win 3.0. Making them accessible should in no way be a challenge if basic attention was spent on accessibility. You did not have a screen reader test these as stated. I'm a screen reader user for 20+ years with a lot of web work under my belt. It is a serious pain in my backside. I need to look for other host options. I can't waste more time trying this and trying that on a simple task as releasing mail or achieve basic domain settings.
Gabriela Andonova Siteground Team
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us. We appreciate it, as it will help us enhance the service and improve our clients’ experience. One of the main reasons to move to our in-house-built Spam Protection Solution was the freedom and flexibility it would allow us in terms of being able to improve on it, apply changes based on direct feedback from our clients. Which with the previously-used system was not possible as it is a third-party service. Additionally, we wanted to eliminated the need for users to log into another dashboard when they needed to review the messages in the spam quarantine. With the new service, all messages the filter perceives as spam or spam-like are delivered into the email’s Junk folder. This way you can review the messages from your email account directly. If a message has been disqualified as spam, moving it from Junk into Inbox will automatically train the filter. Essentially, the filter will learn from your normal day-to-day email management when you are moving messages from/to your Junk folder and will apply your custom preferences to its innate security rules. With that said, we also want to assure you your feedback regarding the drop-down menus and combo boxes has been forwarded to the responsible team for review. Our experts will take action to investigate it thoroughly and run the necessary tests so they can proceed to address the concerns you are raising. We appreciate you bringing this to our attention as it enables us to enhance and improve on user experience. Should you have any further feedback or comments on this issue, we would be grateful if you could email us directly at feedback@siteground.com.
Start discussion
Thanks! Your comment will be held for moderation and will be shortly published, if it is related to this blog article. Comments for support inquiries or issues will not be published, if you have such please report it through